I have only fond memories of my years at the Toronto Transit Commission. "The Better Way,"is the official slogan and a.k.a. TTC, which has been around for more than a century serving Toronto and the greater Toronto area with its massive fleet of public transit vehicles and more than ten thousand dedicated employees comprising of management and union employees, whom I have had the pleasure of working with.

Come hail or snow, bracing well below freezing temperatures I used to be out there day after day at the controls of my Bombardier built T1 train serving station after station trying to get our commuters to their destination on time. A typical day for us consisted of track fires, weather related delays,disgruntled commuters, medical emergencies and equipment failures that we attended to in a timely manner while maintaining our high customer service standards and adhering to our slogan " Work safe, home safe."

The hardest part of the job was to be unable to resolve delays as a team within a timely manner and watching loyal commuters suffer.

The most rewarding part of the job was a fulfilling day that was a direct result of keeping our commuters happy, be it with uniting a lost child with his or her parents, returning a lost article to its rightful owner or comforting a frightened pet.

There are several areas of advancement, several skills are required and I was able to progress through management for many years. Flexible work hours, safety is a priority, made many friends during my time there. Held to a high standard of quality and customer service.

I would usually get into work an hour early ,so to relax make out my paperwork for the day then i would go out to the yard and inspect my streetcar for safety and any defects before taking it out into service.Then leaving on time as per schedule and did my best to keep to schedule as safety allowed eg.rush hour traffic.I would do an eight hour to nine and a half hour shift usually with only twenty to thirty min. breaks but only if i got to the relief points on time in that case if late would just continue on and later phone in the overtime. when i got to my relief point for the day i would turn the streetcar to my relief operator and go home. We had alot of recertifications every 3 years and also public relation seminars also safety meetings and regular job up dates. Also human rights is very high on the ttcs list and was always completely covered. the hardest part of the job was coping with the everchanging rush hour traffic and all season weather conditions but it always kept me sharp and interested in my job.

I enjoyed working for this company. IF given the opportunity I would work for them again. I learned the routes that are run out of the Queensway division. Due to a medical condition that I was not aware of at the time of employment I had some problems.

35 hours per week is fairly descent work hours in order to balance the life and work and is a good place for people for with experience and in their forties and above as they would have gone through their learning period at other work places.

As this being a very large organization with several years of existence, everything is organized and things move very smoothly and the management system is excellent.

Co-workers are very cooperative.

There are lot of things to learn at TTC, when it comes to working in an operating facility with limited hours (two to three hours) of work during non-revenue hours. It is very challenging.

Typical starting 8:30 - 4:30Management isn't too badMany people are nice to work with; however, some nasty employeesNothing is too hardThe most enjoyable part of the job is that you get the chance walking around and talking to different types of people.

I love working with others and learning from everyones experience to make myself a better person and productive worker overall. I've learned patience when dealing with hard difficult situations which makes me level heaeded to make rational and logical decisions in the workplace based on a combination of company procedures and experiences.

I very much enjoyed working at TTC, co-workers and managers were easy to get along with, In a typical day at work I would clean up the shop, help co-workers with various tasks. I was left alone for the most part knowing I had a set of duties to accomplish everyday and I would do just that. Hardest part was the commute to work with constant traffic. I learned many valuable skills.